Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 1944, one of three children born to Arthur Kardashian (October 27, 1917 – December 9, 2012) and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian (July 15, 1917 – May 21, 2008), both Armenian Americans. He had a sister, Barbara Kardashian Freeman, and a brother, Thomas "Tom" Kardashian. The Kardashians were Armenian Spiritual Christians originally from Kars Oblast, and known by the surname Kardaschoff, a Russianized form of the Armenian surname Kardashian, as the area, though now part of modern-day Turkey, was then part of the Russian Empire. Once in the United States, Arthur's father, Tatos, changed his name to Thomas, and began a career in garbage collection, founding his own business, and married Hamas Shakarian, also an immigrant of Armenian heritage.